Introduction

The Text

i.1The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1) is one of the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras and belongs to the Ratnakūṭa collection of the Chinese Tripiṭaka and the Tibetan Kangyur. Among the forty-nine works that constitute this collection, The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1) is one of the few texts for which Indian originals are extant. The earliest available complete Sanskrit text is from a Nepalese manuscript dated to 1661, which was edited by Louis Finot and first published in St. Petersburg by the Académie Impériale des Sciences in 1901. The Nepalese manuscript is preserved at Cambridge University. Two other similar manuscripts are held in Paris and Tokyo. In addition, no less than four copies of the original Sanskrit text dated to the eighteenth to the twentieth century have surfaced from the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (NGMPP).

i.2Beginning in the third century ᴄᴇ, The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1) was translated into Chinese at least three times. The earliest extant translation, the Deguang taizi jing (德光太子經, Taishō 170), was prepared by Dharmarakṣa (c. 233–310) and completed in the year 270. In the late sixth century, The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1) was translated a second time by Jñānagupta and Dharmagupta under the title of Huguo pusa hui (護國菩薩會, Taishō 310, pp. 457–78). Finally, the text was translated a third time into Chinese in 994 by Dānapāla and given the title Huguo zunzhe suowen dacheng jing (護國尊者所問大乘經, Taishō 321).

i.3In the early ninth century ᴄᴇ, The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1) was translated into Tibetan by the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé in cooperation with the Indian scholars Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Munivarman. In the Degé Kangyur, this text comprises thirty folios. It was critically edited and compared to the Lhasa, Narthang, and Peking recensions in 1952 by Jacob Ensink in the context of his study and translation of the Sanskrit text.

i.4The first Western-language translation was a translation from Sanskrit into French by Louis Finot, in 1901, based on the above-mentioned seventeenth-century Nepalese manuscript. Finot’s edition was the basis for an English translation made by Jacob Ensink in 1952. The most recent translation of the text was an English translation by Daniel Boucher in 2008. Boucher also provided an extensive study of the sūtra, basing his translation on the Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese versions. In addition to the Peking and Narthang Kangyurs, he used the Stok Palace manuscript and the London (Shelkar) manuscript Kangyurs. Boucher utilized all three Chinese texts, the Deguang taizi jing, the Huguo pusa hui, and the Huguo zunzhe suowen dacheng jing.

i.5For our present translation, we have relied mainly on the Tibetan translation from the early ninth-century as preserved in the Degé edition, comparing it to the Peking edition whenever passages were unclear. For some passages in which the Tibetan was misleading or unintelligible on its own, we relied on the Sanskrit text and marked these instances in the footnotes to our translation. In addition, we consulted Daniel Boucher’s English translation and study of The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1).

The Historical Background and Dating of the Text

i.6Based on the extant Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan recensions of the sūtra, at least two strata of the text can be identified: (1) passages that have parallels in Dharmarakṣa’s earliest Chinese translation (270 ᴄᴇ), and (2) passages that are found only in the later Chinese and Tibetan versions as well as the extant Sanskrit translation from the late seventeenth century. About fifty percent of the content of the extant Sanskrit and Tibetan editions is missing in the earliest Chinese translation. The later parts consist of some two hundred forty-eight verses out of a total of three hundred fifty-three, and merely a few passages in prose. They are mostly located at the beginning of the text and focus on the extensive praise of the body of the Buddha in verse form, a typical feature of later Mahāyāna discourses. This challenges the widely-held assumption that in Mahāyāna scriptures, verse tends to be older than prose.

i.7The earlier layer of the text is largely in prose. Only one of the tetrads praising the qualities of bodhisattvas is followed by verses (namely, verses 72–81, which concern things that thoroughly purify the enlightened conduct of bodhisattvas). The short section condemning the conduct of corrupt monks is an even mix of prose and verse. The story of Puṇyaraśmi contains four passages written in verse. By contrast, all passages that were introduced into the text later are written in verse (except for short sections at the beginning of the sūtra describing the assembly and the acts of bodhisattva Prāmodyarāja). Comparing the earlier with the later translation, the following observations can be made:

i.8The older parts of the text feature a number of themes that are considered representative of early Mahāyāna development. There is an emphasis on retreating into the wilderness, engaging in austere discipline, and dedicating all efforts to a correct way of practice, i.e., with the mindset of a renunciant. Such measures reflect a resistance on the part of many early Mahāyāna proponents to the increasing interactions of monasteries with society, which was accompanied by their strong determination to retreat into the wilderness, in order to return to the original path taught and exemplified by the Buddha. Because of the utmost importance accorded to the topic of retreating into the forests in this text, the Sanskrit term araṇya has been rendered literally as “forest” in this translation, although the equivalent Tibetan term is dgon pa, which is normally rendered as “solitude” or “monastery.” In reaction to perceived dangers of worldly interactions, fellow monks, in the earlier parts of the text, are criticized for their pretentious and inappropriate behavior and perfidious intentions, and even more so in some of the parts added later, where these corrupt monks are also held responsible for the decline of the Dharma.

i.9The narrative of Puṇyaraśmi, who is the Buddha in one of his previous lives, forms the largest part of the text and the narrative centerpiece of the sūtra. It also belongs to the older layer of the text, as does its central theme of renunciation entailing abstinence from all kinds of sensual pleasure. The text concludes with a praise of the sūtra itself, underscoring its authenticity and beneficent powers, and describes the immense merit that follows from reciting it, along with severe drawbacks that befall those who reject it.

i.10Supplementing the earlier material, and in some cases contrasting with it, the later additions include a list of bodhisattvas present in the assembly and a long set of verses summarizing most of the Jātakas‍—recounting fifty previous lives of the Buddha and his accumulation of merit as a bodhisattva‍—as well as verses that recount the recalcitrance of certain fellow monks and that expose corruption in the monastic community. Many of these parts seem to be responding to hostile reactions toward the Mahāyāna movement and contain sharp exhortations to follow the proper path and the footsteps of the Buddha.

The Contents

i.11The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1) can be roughly divided into two sections. The first section mainly revolves around the Buddha addressing the questions about the nature of bodhisattva conduct posed by Rāṣṭrapāla, a newly ordained monk who had joined the Buddha’s assembly in Rājagṛha on Vulture’s Peak. In the second section, the Buddha proceeds to provide an illustration of exemplary conduct by recalling an episode in one his former lives, during the time of the Buddha Siddhārthabuddhi. As prince Puṇyaraśmi, the son of the influential and wealthy king Arciṣmān, he renounced his luxurious and extravagant life in his father’s estate to devote himself to the path of the Dharma and practice in the solitude of the forest for the benefit of all beings.

i.12The sūtra opens in typical fashion, setting the scene with the Buddha presiding over an assembly of thousands of monks, bodhisattvas, and celestial beings. As the bodhisattva Prāmodyarāja praises his splendid, awe-inspiring appearance, the Buddha proclaims all phenomena to be empty. The narrative then shifts to Rāṣṭrapāla, a newly ordained monk who has just received his vows after spending the rainy season in Śrāvastī. Together with a group of monks, Rāṣṭrapāla travels toward Rājagṛha, where the Buddha has been staying. On his arrival, the newly ordained monk approaches the Buddha and, having offered glorifying praises to him, addresses a series of questions to him concerning the qualities and conduct of a genuine bodhisattva and the path to attain inexhaustible wisdom and enlightenment. The Buddha, welcoming Rāṣṭrapāla’s queries, then responds in the form of a discourse‍—alternating between prose and verse‍—in which he presents sets of four points that outline how a bodhisattva should comport himself. These highlight the virtue of qualities such as renunciation, mendicancy, perseverance, impartiality, pure discipline, and unworldliness, and extol the benefits of meditating on emptiness.

i.13To exemplify such qualities, the Buddha proceeds to recount his past lives in a manner typical of the Jātaka tales. The stories portray his renunciation during his lives as wealthy kings, highlighting his benevolence and compassion for the sake of others, qualities totally free of any self-concern. Prominently featured in most Jātaka tales are the Buddha’s heroic acts of self-sacrifice, in which he cuts off his limbs or even offers his whole body to benefit others. In many of these stories, he is an animal displaying various noble behaviors, such as rescuing other animals or people. The introduction concludes with the Buddha’s prediction that there will be monks who, although they know about the Buddha’s virtuous deeds in his past lives, will be corrupt and will indulge in all sorts of negative behaviors, such as transgressing their vows, drinking, overeating, engaging in sexual behavior, speaking ill of the Dharma, behaving badly toward women, having wives and children, and generally demonstrating selfish motivations.

i.14The second section focuses on the Buddha’s former life as prince Puṇyaraśmi during the era of Siddhārthabuddhi, a buddha of a past era when human lifespans reached a hundred million years. Puṇyaraśmi’s father was Arciṣmān, the king of a vast empire on the continent of Jambudvīpa, who resided in the city of Ratnaprabhāsa, the capital of his kingdom. The Buddha relates how the birth of the good-looking young prince Puṇyaraśmi was accompanied by various miraculous signs heralding the arrival of a buddha. Mirroring the life of the Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama, Puṇyaraśmi swiftly mastered all worldly arts.

i.15One night, the gods of the pure realm Śuddhāvāsa awaken Puṇyaraśmi from his sleep, urging him to be conscientious and to think about the impermanence of all things. They remind him of the brevity and evanescence of human life, exhorting him to practice the Dharma in the manner of a compassionate bodhisattva‍—by dwelling in solitude and by renouncing his luxurious, lavish lifestyle. The young prince follows their advice and, like a proper renunciant, shuns all the pleasurable activities available to him as a prince.

i.16Puṇyaraśmi’s father, Arciṣmān, had built an enormous city called Ratipradhāna (“City in Which Pleasure Is the Main Concern”), beautifully decorated with various garlands and jewels, where he invites his son to fulfill all his desires. The city is decorated with flowers and gold, and exotic birds fly about, singing melodiously. For his sensual gratification, Puṇyaraśmi is presented with forty million young maidens‍—whom he nobly rejects, along with everything else. Arciṣmān, wondering why his son has rejected all these abundant gifts, approaches him to ask why he has refused everything; he encourages him to enjoy himself with the young maidens while he is still in the full bloom of his youth. But Puṇyaraśmi responds that he has other goals in mind, the foremost being liberation from saṃsāra. Knowing about the deceptive nature of such enjoyments, the impurity of the human body, and the unsatisfactory nature of desire, he no longer feels attracted to such things. Instead, he declares that he wants to become a Buddha for the sake of all beings, pledging that he will from now on follow in the footsteps of the bodhisattvas, going to practice in a forest.

i.17In another nocturnal episode, Puṇyaraśmi hears the Śuddhāvāsa gods praising the Three Jewels in the sky above his palace. Climbing onto the roof, he asks them about their praise, whereupon they introduce the Buddha Siddhārthabuddhi. The next day, King Arciṣmān finds the maidens at Puṇyaraśmi’s palace weeping because they can’t find him anywhere. Searching in vain, a local deity informs Arciṣmān that Puṇyaraśmi has left to follow the Buddha Siddhārthabuddhi. Arciṣmān finds them and approaches Siddhārthabuddhi, who then gives a Dharma teaching. Having invited Siddhārthabuddhi to take his meal in Ratipradhāna on the following day, Puṇyaraśmi and Arciṣmān transform the whole city, embellished with all its riches, into an offering for Siddhārthabuddhi.

i.18Sometime later‍—after Siddhārthabuddhi has passed into parinirvāṇa‍—Puṇyaraśmi, his family, and all the inhabitants of the country finally become renunciants and build eight hundred and forty million stūpas for Siddhārthabuddhi’s relics. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha Śākyamuni revealing to Rāṣṭrapāla that king Arciṣmān was in fact an emanation of Buddha Amitāyus, and that the Buddha himself was prince Puṇyaraśmi. He finally urges him to follow the example of Puṇyaraśmi if he wants to reach enlightenment. In his conclusion, the Buddha reiterates that there will always be corrupt practitioners, with various types of negative behavior, who stray from the path of genuine Dharma. He exhorts Rāṣṭrapāla to avoid such shortcomings and to remain in solitude, abandoning all nonvirtuous forms of behavior. He finally assures him that those who practice according to what has been explained in this sūtra will have no difficulty in attaining enlightenment.